It’s AdRoulette! [The Beta Files]

By On September 8, 2011 · 21 Comments

Sackboy
Forever in Beta.

So, a hilarious interlude.

Today marks our brand new ads. They are prettily situated at the top and sides of the site, and will soon be in the bottom of each post. Please enable ads, I would love to stop having Dreamhost stop threatening to shut down the site because we’re late on our hosting. There will be no take your screen hostage ads – everything is programmed to be banners or sidebar.  We are with the RawStory ad network, and the ads as nice looking as they promised. However, there is one catch – the ads are still as random as the ones in your Gmail inbox.

So, while we were testing them, we spotted:

  • Kiva Microloans
  • Some water charity
  • BP Oil Spill Response
  • Albertson’s Grocery Store
  • Interracial Dating web site
  • Russian Love Match
  • US Army “Wake Up” Call
  • Square Credit Card Swiper Thingy
  • Forex Trading
  • Progressive Change Campaign Committee
  • Dove Body Wash
  • Downy Fabric Softener
We have no idea what ads you are seeing, so let us know!
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  • Anonymous

    Because I have ordered one recently, I keep seeing ads for the new American Express Prepaid card.  :D

    “It’s the new standard in prepaid!”  It’s not bad, and it lacks a lot of the dumb fees that most other cards, particularly the ones made for Visa or Mastercard, impose on consumers.  But, yeah, they’re EVERYWHERE.

    I also see ads for their High-Yield Savings Account, too, also another one I have picked up.  “1.00% APY! GET IT NOWS!” 

    I’m sure if I manage to clean out my cookies/internet cache, I’ll see those other ads as well, but right now, it looks like AMEX wants my bad-credit-having unemployed-college-student self to get more stuff from ‘em. :D

  • http://molecularshyness.wordpress.com jen*

    I’m a Talbots girl, so it’s no surprise I’m seeing a Talbots ad.  Those folks are on their marketing grind for real. I see their ads EVERYwhere. Must be the cookies.

    Anyway, I’m also seeing a “mature singles only” banner, which makes me think maybe the ad people think only women over 40 shop at Talbots?  In which case, I’m too young to be a Talbots girl….

  • Sussabmax

    I have Nordstrom’s, some kind of dating site (women’s profiles only, some Russian, some from USA), and BJC Healthcare, which is a local hospital network.

  • http://commentarybyval.blogspot.com/ Val

    Why are interracial dating ads always a Black woman and a White man? Why never a White woman and an Asian guy? Or any other combination?

  • lady di

    dating chinese women ad!!! asiamatchonline.com.  i have a screen shot but i can’t attach or paste it. you really should fight them on this, it detracts from the integrity of your website.

  • http://molecularshyness.wordpress.com jen*

    LOL. I come back and ALL 3 ads are Talbots!  They are stalking me!

  • breezey

    Over 40 Singles
    Febreeze
    Nordstrom

  • Anonymous

    Now I’m seeing ads on the right sidebar for Ally bank, another site I’ve glanced at, recently.

    This is fun. :D

  • Anonymous

    I’ve seen ads for Interracial Dating Central, InterracialRomance, Match.com and…a “meet Asian women!” dating site. :-( #WrongJoint

  • Katie

    I just saw an old navy ad out of the corner of my eye, it was a picture of girls’ leggings, and I was thinking “right, I wanted to get my daughter a couple new pairs of pants, she probably outgrew most of the ones from last year..” and then I saw this and remembered “RIGHT… racialicious doesn’t/didn’t have ads. Very unobtrusive. I am pretty much used to seeing ads everywhere online, but now that my attention has been drawn to these, I have to say I am very happy about it. This is one of the best blogs I know about. You all provide a very valuable public service, and I hope these ads will help support the work you do.

  • via_ostiense

    I’m seeing ads for running shoes (I looked at some on Zappos earlier)

  • Anonymous

    Thank you peeps. 

    All my ads are the biz ones – and since I’m off the market, I haven’t seen a single IR dating ad in my feed.  General Q: Do we want to kill all the dating ads, or just the ethnic specific ones? (I have to email the network with the removal requests, so if anyone is fine with the more tame IR ads or Match.com ads, speak up now!)

  • Anonymous

    They got your number! 

  • Anonymous

    Thank you! The main goal of these ads is for the site to stop costing me money, so it’s a fairly low bar for success.  Luckily.

  • Anonymous

    I am seeing mostly Old Navy ads, with a few ads for petitions by Care2.

  • PatrickInBeijing

    I get charities (feed the children kind of thing, since I don’t have a credit card, they don’t work), plus Chinese ads, the typical (10,000 Chinese women are waiting to meet you, but I already have lots of students!), and of course (nerd that i am), Chinese ads for phones, cameras and computers.  Is it useful if we click on one once in a while?

  • Alex

    I see no ads at all. I see this doll with the yellow jacket. My son and I like that doll, but don’t know where to find it.  Its adorable. Love the staples and the yellow vest and the weird head shape. 

  • Alex

    Now I see the ad! I see an ad for singles mature and over 40, which is hilarious given I’m not in that age group. 

  • http://twitter.com/carmensognonvi Carmen Sognonvi

    I’m seeing ads for iContact, an email newsletter service. I guess cause I’m a marketing dork. Of course, I already use them for Urban Martial Arts stuff so it’s kind of a waste advertising to me.

  • http://twitter.com/carmensognonvi Carmen Sognonvi

    I also want to add, I did a little happy dance when I saw the ad banner. Yay for monetizing Racialicious and paying those hosting bills! :)

  • Rochelle

    Romney for President. I have no idea why and am very disturbed :)